On the Teen Scene: When Mono Takes You Out of the Action

Missed parties. Postponed exams. Sitting out a season of team sports. And
loneliness. These are a few of the ways that scourge of high school and college
students known as "mono" can affect your life.

The disease whose medical name is infectious mononucleosis is most common in
people 10 to 35 years old, with its peak incidence in those 15 to 17 years old.
Only 50 people out of 100,000 in the general population get mono, but it strikes
as many as 2 out of 1,000 teens and twenty-somethings, especially those in high
school, college, and the military. While mono is not usually considered a
serious illness, it may have serious complications. Without a doubt your
lifestyle will change for a few months.

You've probably heard people call mono the "kissing disease." But if your
social life is in a slump, you may wonder, "How did I get this 'kissing disease'
when I haven't kissed anyone romantically recently?"

Here's how. Mono is usually transmitted though saliva and mucus--which is
where the "kissing disease" nickname comes from. But the kissing or close
contact that transmits the disease doesn't happen right before you get sick. The
virus that causes mono has a long incubation period: 30 to 50 days from the time
you're exposed to it to the time you get sick. In addition, the virus can be
transmitted in other ways, such as sipping from the same straw or glass as an
infected person--or even being close when the person coughs or sneezes. Also,
some people can have the virus in their systems without ever having symptoms and
you can still catch it from them.